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PISA
PROGRAMME FOR INTERNATIONAL STUDENT
ASSESSMENT

WHAT IS PISA?

CLICK HERE TO VIEW

VIDEO
PISA Measuring Student
Success Around the World

The Programme for International

Student Assessment (PISA) is held
every 3 years and is set out to test the
knowledge and skills of 15 year old
students world wide. The aim of the
test is to assess the education systems
in the countries participating.

It was formulated by the Organisation

for Economic Co-operation and
Development (OECD) with the first
survey taking place in the year 2000.

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OECD
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and
Development

The mission of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation

and Development (OECD) is to promote policies that will
improve the economic and social well-being of people around
the world. (OECD, 2016)

OECD works with governments worldwide to collect and

deliver information on what drives economic, social and
environmental change. (OECD, 2016)

OECD measures productivity and global flows of trade and

investment, as well as analysing and comparing data to
predict future trends. (OECD, 2016)

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PISAS PURPOSE

PISA provides data from internationally

standardised tests that enables Australia to
compare and monitor its performance with that of
other countries. (ACER, 2016)

PISA enables reporting on comparable

performance data every three years, with student
outcomes able to be disaggregated by sex,
Indigenous status, geographic location and
indicators of socioeconomic background. (ACER,
2016)

HOW IS PISA UNIQUE?

The assessment is unlike other standardised tests as it is not

linked to any curriculum, its questions how ever are based on
real-life situations and aims to assess the students knowledge
towards this.

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WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE
The Knowledge and Skills Tested

The tests focuses on the areas of: Reading, Mathematics and

Science and each year of assessment the area of focus is different.

There are also additional assessment areas that some countries can
participate in, these are: Problem Solving and Financial Literacy.

The tests are a combination of multiple choice and open ended

questions and goes for 3 hours in total.

Along with the test the school principle and students take a survey
that generates the information about their backgrounds, schools
and learning experiences and about the broader school system and
learning environment (OECD, 2016)

TAKE A LOOK AT A SAMP

LE TEST

QUESTIONAIRE
SAMPLE

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OUTCOMES OF PISA

For each year the PISA results get released in

report format by ACER Australian Council
for Educational Research for the country, this
covers how Australia measures up to past
years performances as well as a comparison
to the countrys performance against results
of other participating countries.
Click to view the REPORT and VIDEO

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POSITIVE IMPACT

The PISA assessment has a positive impact in

the way that the questions are centered around
real- life experiences and how well students
apply their knowledge to this.

It gives Australia an idea of how it is situated

education-wise in comparison to the world, and
results collected over the years gives an idea as
to what has been improved or needing work in
certain areas.

Just like NAPLAN, PISA has a vision to bring

Australia to a better future of education and
identify where the strengths and weaknesses lie.

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NEGATIVE IMPACT

The assessment is producing governments worldwide to

particpate in a global race to be seen as the best. William
Stewart (2013) states that the results will create more stars,
cause even more angst and persuade more governments to spend
further billions on whatever reforms the survey suggests have
been most successful.

The rankings of countries results are highly regarded where other

factors can be overlooked.

PISAs data accuracy is said to be flawed, Forese- Germain (2010)

writes that there are several areas that prove this:

CULTURAL DIFFERENCES:

Students from a range of cultural backgrounds may react in different ways

to common questions and even to a common formal testing situation.

The test is also taken in a language other than their native language and
that may be unfamiliar to some.

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NEGATIVE IMPACT
DISREGARD FOR NATIONAL CURRICULUM:

As the questions in the test are not focused on national curriculum

and rather on certain subject areas almost exclusively the attention is
shifted to the core subjects of mathematics, science and reading.
This leaves history, geography, civics, foreign languages, and all the
other subjects taught in schools, marginalized (Forese- Germain
2010, p. 14)

LACK OF TEACHER INVOLVEMENT:

The questionnaires are dedicated on gathering information

about students, their parents and the schools principles
however teachers have no involvement.

It appears somewhat peculiar, therefore, that those working in

classrooms at the heart of education and who have the most to
contribute to the improvement of both quality and equity are
ignored. ( Forese Germain 2010, p. 15)

REFERENCES:

Australian

Council for Educational Research 2016, PISA Australia, ACER, retrieved March 24th
2016, https://www.acer.edu.au/ozpisa/pisa- australia

Australian

Council for Educational Research 2016, PISA 2012 How Australia measures up ,
ACER, retrieved March 24th 2016 < https://www.acer.edu.au/documents/PISA-2012-Report.pdf >

Froese-

Germain, B 2010, The OECD, PISA and the Impacts on Educational Policy, Canadian
Teachers Federation, retrieved 24 th March 2016, < http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED532562.pdf
>

Organisation

for Economic Co-operation and Development 2016, PISA FAQ, OECD, retrieved
23 March 2016, < http://www.oecd.org/pisa/aboutpisa/pisafaq.htm >
rd

Organisation

for Economic Co-operation and Development 2016, About the OECD, OECD,
retrieved 23 March 2016,http://www.oecd.org/about /
rd

Organisation

for Economic Co-operation and Development 2016, PISA Test Questions, OECD,
retrieved 24 March 2016, https://www.oecd.org/pisa/pisaproducts/pisa-test- questions.htm
rd

Organisation

for Economic Co-operation and Development 2016, Database PISA 2012, OECD,
retrieved 24 March 2016, <http://pisa2012.acer.edu.au/downloads.php >
rd

PISA

Measuring student success around the world 2011, YouTube, EduSkills OECD, retrieved
24 March 2016,https://www.youtube.com/watch?v= q1I9tuScLUA
th

Stewart,

W 2014, Is Pisa fundamentally flawed?, TES Magazine, retrieved 24 th March 2016, <
https://www.tes.com/article.aspx?storycode=6344672 >

The

2012 OECD PISA shows Australian students slipping behind 2013, YouTube, Greenshack
Dotinfo, OECD, retrieved 24 th March 2016, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CFdF_Kk9F4 >